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SIGNING DAY!!!
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Today is the day in which you'll find many college football coaches and fans pacing, biting their fingernails, and holding their collective breath as they await the faxed signed letter of intent from the players they believe will be an important piece of their program for the next 4-5 years. (Or in the case of a few- I'm looking at you, Terrence Kerns- no years). For WVU, all those letters, phone calls, text messages, and in-home visits should pay off this national signing day as Letter of Intent (LOI) documents arrive at the Puskar Center. For master recruiters such as Doc Holliday and Chris Beatty, the offseason is a chance to shine, bringing home star recruit after star recruit to a university in the hills of West Virginia that many of these highly-touted players might not have envisioned attending before their visits with team officials.  Coming soon to a living room near you. (If you're a talented high school football player, that is.) Throughout the day, we'll be updating this thread as the recruits come in, so you should get a fairly accurate picture of what the Most Wonderful Time of the Year has brought to you recruiting gurus. (Quick note- this article, though under my name in the archives, will be supplied with information from numerous Couch Writers, most notably Dan, PB, and myself. Additionally, we'll be filling it in with more information as the day goes on, so initially we'll just have the announced commitments and some basic information.) Additionally, if you want to talk about the new recruits in the Official Signing Day Thread, go here. Now, on to the new Mountaineers! **UPDATE- No real surprises to this point other than the de-commitment of Michael Carter, a 5-foot-11, 154 lb cornerback from Pompano Beach, FL. Apparently Carter likes his chances better at Minnesota. Enjoy 15 feet of snow and negative 30 degree wind chills, Michael.) **11:45 UPDATE- Apparently potential WVU signee Ka’Lial Glaud allowed his decision on which college he would be attending for the next 4-5 years to rest on a coin flip, and it landed on Rutgers's side. Way to go, kid. It's not like that was an important decision to make or anything. Might as well settle it the way my wife and I pick a movie at Blockbuster. - Logan Heastie Wide Receiver Chesapeake, VA (Great Bridge H.S.) Ht: 6-foot-2 Wt: 192 lbs Forty: 4.4 secs Vertical: 34 inches Shuttle: 4.31 secs No surprise at all here, as with most of WVU's signees today. Heastie was one of the first blue-chip recruits for Bill Stewart and is already enrolled at WVU and has a test in African studies today. Heastie has been called the best WR recruit in the US by some, so should come as a boon to the WVU passing game in years to come. Shawne Alston RB, 6-0, 222 Hampton, Va (Phoebus HS) Forty: 4.5 secs  * All-state RB who played with Tahj Boyd and Logan Heastie. Chris Beatty knows him well from his time in the Tidewater area. He's a nice complement to smaller backs, built for I-formation. Daquan Hargett RB, 5-10, 190 Miami, Fla. (Northwestern HS) Forty: 4.5 secs An all-purpose back, Hargett received the following praise: “For one of the hardest runners in the state of Florida, a national championship and two state titles was a great way to end one career as another will take shape in Morgantown with the West Virginia Mountaineers.” - Miami Herald Eugene "Gino" Smith QB, 6-3, 190 Miramar, Fla. (Miramar HS) Forty: 4.8 secs Vertical: 34 inches Shuttle: 4.44 secs GPA: 3.0 A dual-threat quarterback, Gino was a Class 6A Player of the Year and runner-up for Mr. Football in the state of Florida, which ain't a small thing. Will be joined by high school teammate Stedman Bailey to form a Miramar connection between QB and WR. (Those Boyd to Heastie shirts may have been premature. Yes, there will be a high school QB connection, but it will come from a different QB and WR than many expected.) Gino was named to the Parade High School All-American team and the EA Sports All-American second team. According to ESPNU, he was recruited by such name schools as Michigan, LSU, Florida, Auburn, Miami-FL, Oregon, Kansas, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin before deciding to sign with WVU following the de-commitment of Tahj Boyd. Stedman Bailey WR, 5-11, 186 Miramar, Fla. (Miramar HS)  Teammate of Gino Smith, known for his great hands. Bailey may have made it possible for WVU to sign Smith, as evidenced by this quote in this Charleston Daily Mail article chronicling the two: "I knew he was a great quarterback and he knew I was a pretty good receiver," Bailey said. "We really wanted to come together and make something special happen. At first it was just something we talked about, but then it happened. "We've been through a lot together and we decided we wanted to keep it going in college."  No, we got the other Stedman. Tavon Auston RB, 5-9, 170 Baltimore, Md. (Dunbar HS) Forty: 4.47 secs Probably the gem of the 2009 recruiting class, this record-setting running back led Dunbar HS to three straight state championships. Steve Slaton’s career at WVU played a role in his interest for WVU, and, like Slaton, he represents another steal from Fat Fridge and Maryland out of their own back yard. But if that's not enough, check out these ridiculous highlights: Terence Garvin S, 6-2, 210 Baltimore, Md. Garvin was a consensus all-state safety in Maryland, and was also given scholarship offers by the Fridge, BC, Syracuse, UVA, and UNC. Garvin is considered a ballhawk who can catch just about anything thrown his way, and has nice size for a safety. He doesn't have blazing speed, but plays the run well. Deon Long WR, 6-0, 175 Washington, D.C. A big, strong WR with amazing hands, Deon Long is also a Couch favorite (and frequent poster on our message boards). He's very hard to bring down after the catch, which is fortunate because he catches everything thrown within 20 yards of him. Behold: Welcome to Morgantown, Deon. You're already a member of the Couch, might as well give us a reason to burn one.  Patrick Miller CB, 6-0, 170 Birmingham, Ala. Rated the #29 CB recruit by ESPNU, Miller is a fast, talented cornerback that just needs to spend some time in the weight room to really be effective as a college CB. One of the better secondary recruits WVU's had in the past few years. (But hopefully without any poolstick altercations in his near future.) - Jordan Weingart OL, Gainsville, FL (Bucholz HS) 6-2, 290  A very solid interior lineman, Weingart can play either guard or center and is very strong and aggressive. He was named Class 3A-6A Co-Offensive Player of the Year and was a Class 3A-6A First Team selection in the state of Florida. How a lineman wins Co-Offensive Player of the Year is beyond me, except to say that he is obviously a bad mfer. - Curtis Feight DL, Mercersburg, PA (Mercersburg Academy) 6-6, 270 Feight is an interesting story in that he played football in Germany before playing his junior year in Mercersburg, PA. He committed to WVU last summer after his body was transformed both in the weight room and naturally, as he gained 30 pounds and grew an inch to an inch-and-a-half in the offseason. He's a lesser-known, but big body who played on both sides of the ball in high school but should blossom into a great player on the defensive line under the tutelage of Coach Kirlav. Feight, a native of Schonefeld, Germany, is also known for consuming massive quantities of kielbasa and dark, stout beer keg throwing.  We couldn't find a good image or video of Feight, so here is a picture of a big German guy hoisting a keg over his head. - Nick Kindler OL, Camp Hill, PA (Trinity HS) 6-7, 280  Photo courtesy of The Patriot-News Kindler is a massive offensive lineman that is exactly the opposite sort of recruit for the line that Mountaineer fans have been accustomed to seeing in the past few years. He's huge, powerful, and veeeeery slow. That's fine. Get him a year or two in the program and it's nothing that a few runs up this won't cure:  - Chris Snook TE/FB, Medina, OH (Highland HS) 6-3, 220 A few Mountaineer fans have envisioned Snook as the bruising fullback sorely needed to help WVU in short-yardage situations. A few delusional Mountaineer fans have seen him as the second coming of the Runaway Beer Truck. While he's got several thousand tons of weights to lift and several faces to break on the gridiron to break before I confer that status to him, enjoy this moderately skeevy youtube highlight reel of him when he was a sophomore in high school, complete with contact information presumably so you know where to send the check: - Branko Busick LB, Steubenville, OH (Steubenville HS) 6-1, 215  With a name like Branko Busick, was there any question this kid would eventually evolve into a linebacker? Like his father who was a WWF wrestler ("Big Bully Busick"), Busick wrestled in high school and is developing into a vicious, fierce, hard-nosed competitor at the linebacking position like his idols Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary, and Ray Lewis.  Did I mention that his dad was this guy? Tevita Finau JUCO DL, 6-5, 290 Lahaina, Hawaii (Phoenix College) This makes Finau's second signing day appearance (and third time signing with the Mountaineers overall) after a much-ballyhooed appearance on WVU's list last year. After failing to qualify academically and returning to junior college last year, he's giving it another shot again this year, so hopefully we'll see him on the field at some point. Since returning to JUCO, he had some strange turns. According to this article in the Charleston Gazette, after failing to qualify last year, Finau "then signed a junior college letter of intent in January but didn't complete the requirements for his two-year degree in time to enroll in January. Finau is now back in his home state of Hawaii, finishing his academic requirements online." In last year's recruiting recap, PB described him as "perhaps the most highly regarded defensive line recruit to ever sign with the Mountaineers ." He's still considered a Day 1 Ready recruit, and should bolster WVU's defensive line greatly if he ever actually qualifies to attend the school as a student. - Cole Bowers OL, Ona, WV (Cabell Midland HS) 6-6, 280 Another solid offensive line prospect from the great state of West Virginia, Bowers has the size, strength, and quickness to play at either tackle position for the Mountaineers in the future. Bowers has been committed to the Mountaineers since his junior season as well, so he assuredly reads this site. Broderick Jenkins CB/ATH, Fort Myers, Fla. (South Fort Myers HS) 5-10, 175 Jenkins is a lightning fast ATH that excels as a returner on special teams, and played every down both as a CB and as a RB. His ability to elude defenders is supposedly Devine-like, so he could see some time in WVU's special teams fairly early. Jonathan Scott S, Daytona Beach, Fla. (Seabreeze Senior HS) 6-4, 190 Scott is another really skilled safety that is big, tall, and fast as hell. Recruited by big time schools like LSU, Michigan (HA-HA), Alabama, FSU, and Auburn, Scott should provide very solid production in the secondary for years to come. Ryan Spiker OL, 6-4, 280 Dresden, Ohio Pat Eger OL, 6-5, 275 Clairton, Pa. Darwin Cook S, 5-11, 185 Cleveland, Ohio Dominik Davenport DL, 6-1, 265 Hampton, Va. (Phoebus HS) Another Phoebus product, Davenport is a fast, powerful DLineman that also received offers from FSU, Virginia Tech, and UVA. Known as "Baby D", Davenport is a DT that needs to add some weight if he's going to man the middle of the 3-3-5 on the defensive line. Taige Redman LB, 6-2, 215 Keyser, W.Va. Terrance Moore JUCO WR, 6-2, 185 Key West, Fla. (Mesa Community College) |
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The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
| Poster | Thread |
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| WVUmtnEER | Posted: 2/4/2009 1:36 pm Updated: 2/4/2009 1:36 pm |
Makin' it Rain   Joined: 2/5/2008 From: Posts: 4117 |
 Re: SIGNING DAY!!!Great Stuff! Keep it coming! Thanks Jude
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| BeastoftheEast | Posted: 2/4/2009 2:02 pm Updated: 2/4/2009 2:02 pm |
WMITC   Joined: 7/21/2006 From: Boone County, WV Posts: 9913 |
Re: SIGNING DAY!!! Ahh this is a good day to be a Mountaineer indeed.
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| msaul37 | Posted: 2/4/2009 3:35 pm Updated: 2/4/2009 3:35 pm |
  Joined: 7/27/2006 From: Alkol, Lincoln County Posts: 12519 |
Re: SIGNING DAY!!! 5-foot-11, 154 lb cornerback
 dude. that's not good. no fat is good but no muscle either? glad he's not ours. |
| glibglub | Posted: 2/4/2009 5:14 pm Updated: 2/4/2009 5:14 pm |
Makin' it Rain  Joined: 1/6/2008 From: Posts: 3714 |
Re: SIGNING DAY!!! Wow. Carter is even smaller than me, and that is saying something. I would not want me out there on that field . . .
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| jeffreyhunt | Posted: 2/4/2009 8:20 pm Updated: 2/4/2009 8:20 pm |
Pitt Hater   Joined: 2/10/2007 From: Raleigh Co. Posts: 2725 |
Re: SIGNING DAY!!! Thanks Mr Jude
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| andrea | Posted: 2/5/2009 10:58 am Updated: 2/5/2009 10:58 am |
Suspected Punter   Joined: 9/5/2008 From: Lehigh Acres, FL --- next to Ft. Myers Posts: 199 |
Re: SIGNING DAY!!! I agree. Great stuff. Thank you for putting that together. Love the height and weight already for some of those guys. A couple definetely need to bulk up, especially Gino.
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| WVUBoxergirl | Posted: 2/7/2009 8:30 pm Updated: 2/7/2009 8:31 pm |
Noob   Joined: 10/24/2008 From: Smithfield, PA Posts: 7 |
 Re: SIGNING DAY!!!I can feel it comming already from the WVU Fan Club. Yes, I am one of the derranged people desparately seeking a second "runnaway beer truck"- It's what we were missing last year and here it is..........Motto for 2009: "Youv'e just been SNOOKERED". Put that boy in the weight room ASAP!!!!!!!!! Great article.
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